Nvidia Drivers

  • Thread starter Thread starter Phil
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Phil

Why are the Nvidia graphic card drivers on windows update older than on the
Nvidia website & yet windows update always recommends the older one they
have?, I don't know which one to use,
Phil.
 
Why are the Nvidia graphic card drivers on windows update older than on the
Nvidia website & yet windows update always recommends the older one they
have?, I don't know which one to use,
Click to expand...

Get hardware updates from the manufacturer's site(s) rather than from
Windows update.
 
If its working why are you updating?
Does the updated driver cure a problem?
If it aint broke dont fix it
You should not use winupdate for drivers
 
If the drivers at the Nvidia site state are on the MS WHQL then they have
been submitted to and approved by MS and sooner or later MS will also add
them to Win Update.
 
If the drivers at the Nvidia site state are on the MS WHQL then they have
been submitted to and approved by MS and sooner or later MS will also add
them to Win Update.
Click to expand...

I'm experiencing the exact opposite. Nvidia's driver finder tells me
to install a slightly older version, while Windows Update installed
the newest one.
 
Please supply the driver finder data that you received at the Nvidia Site
for your card/ model. Is is possible you selected archived drivers by
mistake?
If the drivers at the Nvidia site state are on the MS WHQL then they have
been submitted to and approved by MS and sooner or later MS will also add
them to Win Update.
Click to expand...

I'm experiencing the exact opposite. Nvidia's driver finder tells me
to install a slightly older version, while Windows Update installed
the newest one.
 
This is caused by Plug and Play ranking. For the most part, Windows Update
tries to emulate the ranking that PnP would use when selecting a driver
(there are a couple items WU does not take into account).

With WU ranking, a more specific hardwareID will always be preferred over a
lesser specific hardwareID. This is based on the PnP assumption that a
driver that is more specific to your device will always be a better match
than a lesser specific hardwareID (regardless of the version).

So take my NVIDIA display adapter:

PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0193&SUBSYS_042010DE&REV_A2
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0193&SUBSYS_042010DE
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0193&CC_030000
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0193&CC_0300
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0193&REV_A2
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0193
PCI\VEN_10DE&CC_030000
PCI\VEN_10DE&CC_0300
PCI\VEN_10DE
PCI\CC_030000
PCI\CC_0300

In this case, the PCI.SYS bus driver is responsible for building this list
of hardwareIDs. This list is sorted from most specific to least specific.

NVIDIA only posts two part PCI hardwareID matches to their website
(PCI\VEN_xxxx&DEV_yyyy). In order for an OEM to push a driver to WU, they
must use a four part PCI hardwareID (PCI\VEN_xxxx&DEV_yyyy&SUBSYS_yyyyxxxx).

So if you pull down a driver from NVIDIA.COM, and later scan your machine on
WU, WU will think it has a better matching driver (even though the WU driver
may be older).

You can find more about PnP Ranking here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa477022.aspx
 
Thank you for all your replies

Phil


Timothy Davis said:
This is caused by Plug and Play ranking. For the most part, Windows
Update tries to emulate the ranking that PnP would use when selecting a
driver (there are a couple items WU does not take into account).

With WU ranking, a more specific hardwareID will always be preferred over
a lesser specific hardwareID. This is based on the PnP assumption that a
driver that is more specific to your device will always be a better match
than a lesser specific hardwareID (regardless of the version).

So take my NVIDIA display adapter:

PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0193&SUBSYS_042010DE&REV_A2
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0193&SUBSYS_042010DE
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0193&CC_030000
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0193&CC_0300
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0193&REV_A2
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0193
PCI\VEN_10DE&CC_030000
PCI\VEN_10DE&CC_0300
PCI\VEN_10DE
PCI\CC_030000
PCI\CC_0300

In this case, the PCI.SYS bus driver is responsible for building this list
of hardwareIDs. This list is sorted from most specific to least specific.

NVIDIA only posts two part PCI hardwareID matches to their website
(PCI\VEN_xxxx&DEV_yyyy). In order for an OEM to push a driver to WU, they
must use a four part PCI hardwareID
(PCI\VEN_xxxx&DEV_yyyy&SUBSYS_yyyyxxxx).

So if you pull down a driver from NVIDIA.COM, and later scan your machine
on WU, WU will think it has a better matching driver (even though the WU
driver may be older).

You can find more about PnP Ranking here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa477022.aspx
Click to expand...
 
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